The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a novel written by Mark Twain in 1876. It details the story of Tom Sawyer and his friends and their adventures in an antebellum-era Missouri town on the Mississippi River. Plot 'Part I' The story takes place in the summer of 1845 in St. Petersburg, Missouri, a small town on the Mississippi River. At Tom Sawyer's House, Aunt Polly comes out looking for Tom to do his chores. When she can't find him, she goes back inside. It is revealed that Tom is hiding underneath the house, longing for adventure. He jumps over the fence gate and runs into the forest, where he comes across an old, run-down shack with hogshead barrels: the home of Huckleberry Finn. Tom recommends that they be pirates, with Tom being Tom Sawyer, the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main, and Huck being Huck Finn the Red-Handed. The 2 of them sail to Jackson Island, where they spend a day's worth of pretending to be pirates. A cannon is fired from a steamboat on the river, and Huck identifies it as a signal for someone drowning in the river. Tom realizes that the townsfolk think they're the ones drowning, and thinks that they are heroes and famous. At their funeral, Tom and Huck arrive, bringing joy to everyone. The next day, Tom still longs for adventure, and Huck arrives with an idea for curing his warts. At midnight, they go to the cemetery to command the ghost of Hoss Williams, who has just been interred in the cemetery, to take Huck's warts away. However, 3 grave diggers - Muff Potter, Crazy Joe, and Doc Robinson - arrive to bury some treasure. Joe stops digging and demands more pay, revealing his true colors to Robinson: 5 years ago, Robinson drove a starving Joe out of his house kitchen when he desperately tried to obtain some food, and since then Joe has been building his revenge. A scuffle breaks out, during which Joe murders Robinson with a switchblade owned by Potter. When Potter regains consciousness, Joe lies to him and tells him that he did it, and forces a distraught Potter to run away. Tom and Huck, who witnessed the attack and murder, decide to stay silent about it, but they appear at Potter's Trial. The bailiff asks Joe if he swears to tell the truth, to which Joe complies. The prosecutor questions Joe about the murder and the weapon, and Joe continues to agree that Potter did it. Judge Thatcher declares a recess from trial, and continues after lunch, while Tom regrets not being able to tell the court the truth. The defense attorney admits to the court that they will not enter a plea that Potter murdered Robinson while drunk, so he calls up Tom to the witness stand. The bailiff asks Tom if he swears to tell the truth, to which Tom complies. Tom confesses to the court that he saw Joe murder Robinson; a furious Joe jumps out the courthouse window before he can be captured, and escapes into town. Tom now dreads the thought of telling this to the court, and believes he's going to die for confessing the truth. 'Part II' Tom has haunting nightmares about Crazy Joe coming after him for revenge. He decides to go digging for buried treasure under the floorboards of a haunted house, and recruits Huck's help. They go to the haunted house that night. Despite claiming they're not scared, they actually are. They go upstairs to look around, and they hear noises from below. 2 men enter the house, and the leader is revealed to be Joe, who takes treasure out of a hiding spot and recommends they bury it. As Joe excavates, he hits something. He digs up a chest and uses an arrowhead to open it, revealing precious jewels inside, left behind by the Murrel gang. Joe claims the treasure as his, and wonders who left behind the tools for them to use - Tom and Huck brought the tools with them to go searching for the treasure. Thinking they're still around, Joe attempts to climb the staircase, and almost reaches the second floor, but as he does, the staircase construction breaks apart, trapping Tom and Huck upstairs, and Joe and his partner on the bottom. Joe and his partner leave the house, and Joe takes the treasure to his hiding spot - "a number 2 spot marked by a cross" - while Tom plots to reclaim the treasure and rendezvous with Huck in 2 days, since the next day would be the picnic of Becky Thatcher, daughter of the town judge. The next day, at the picnic,Tom leads Becky into the nearby cave. They explore a lot of the cave, but very soon, they end up lost. By nightfall, Aunt Polly is looking for Tom, and Judge Thatcher is looking for Becky. Thatcher tells Polly that he has organized a search party. Back in the caves, Becky is too tired to move, so Tom ends up looking around. He sees a light, and notices that it is geting closer. The person holding the light is revealed to be Crazy Joe, who somehow doesn't see Tom, who runs away screaming. Becky gives up hope, but Tom gives her cat-string to tie to him so that he can find a way out. Running down a tunnel, he looks up to find a hole in the ceiling with daylight shining through. He then shouts to Becky that he can get them out of the cave. Tom and Becky return home safe, and Judge Thatcher arrives to tell Tom that Crazy Joe died while in the caves. Realizing that Joe's hiding spot was the caves all along, he runs off to tell Huck about the location of the treasure. Tom and Huck go into the caves to find the treasure. They find the number 2 spot marked by a cross, and they uncover the treasure box, making them the richest people in town. To celebrate this, a party is held at Tom's house, and Judge Thatcher places Huck under the care of Widow Douglas. After a few weeks of living a respectable life, Huck returns to his old life and house, where Tom finds him. Huck thinks that because they're rich, they can't pretend to be robbers or pirates anymore, but Tom claims that being rich won't stop him from being a robber. Huck agrees to return to town, and on the way back, they discuss their new plans as robbers. Characters * Tom Sawyer * Huckleberry Finn * Aunt Polly * Judge Richter Thatcher * Becky Thatcher * Crazy Joe * Muff Potter * Doctor Robinson * Funeral Preacher * Bailiff * Prosecutor * Defense Attorney * Widow Douglas Adaptation see A Tail in Twain, Parts 1 and 2 Trivia Category:Books Category:Season 1 books Category:Books written by Mark Twain